Such a Slacker!!!

wow! It has been a thousand years since I have written. Told you it wouldn't be regular or anything. Well, just had my first day (again) at nursing school and am slightly underwhelmed. Almost 50 instructors, new rules, dress codes, MORE BOOKS, and oh yes, read three chapters before class tomorrow and everything will be just fine! Most of what I read would be more at home in law school but it is the first day.

Well I got the shopping mostly done. Beside uniforms and bobby pins (can't let anyone know I have bangs), I had to buy bandaids to cover tattoos, crew socks, tank tops to wear under the (uggggghhh) white shirt, plus there was the assorted binders and pens that go with school. I think I am most excited by the purchase of the venti-mask, pen-light, and bandage scissors, though. I mean, those little items just scream professional. Let me take a look at your pupils, may I? And if you happen to need CPR, I can whip out my mask and provide it while protecting both you and me! Exciting stuff here! I can cut bandages too if I need them with my little red bandage scissors that match my red scrub pants. Yay! Ok, I think I am a little tired here, signing off.

These are a few of my favorite (and not so favorite) things....

So I suppose many of you have taken college classes.  If you have, I can only assume, that you have taken a college exam.  So of course you know about the trick.  YOU KNOW!!!  The trick that college professors use to weed out the ones who are truly paying attention, from the ones who are just clock watching.  They drone on and on senselessly for 44 minutes and 56 seconds about stuff that hardly matters, then in the LAST FIVE MINUTES OF CLASS they bring out the big stuff.  The important information you rarely hear, and if you do hear it, you seldome retain it.  The next time you see it is on the final worth 75% of your grade and you wonder where the heck this stuff came from.  I am a firm believer in this.  I perk up the last 10 minutes of class, waiting on the tidbit that will make the difference between an AWESOME GRADE, and merely a pass.  Because of course I would never fail.  So it is TRULY ANNOYING when half the class begins to pack up notebooks, textbooks, backpacks and purses in that last five minutes.  It is distracting as well as incredibly RUDE to the professor who is still talking excitedly about his/her chosen topic of study.  These younger students are not even discreet about it, slamming books shut and zipping bags loudly without regard to the fact that I am hanging on to every word about the RISE OF INDUSTRIAL AMERICA.  I am the totally uncool old person in the front row who looks back and gives dirty looks to all the people, and one day soon I think I may lose it and scream, "DO YOU REALLY HAVE TO JUMP UP AND RUN OUT THE DOOR AS SOON AS HE STOPS TALKING????  HE ALREADY THINKS HIS CLASS ENDS AT 11:00 INSTEAD OF 11:05, SO YOU ARE STILL GETTING OUT FIVE MINUTES EARLY NO MATTER WHAT!!!  GIVE ME A BREAK!!!"  As you can see, this kind of irks me.

However, other than this I have several things that I absolutely LOVE about LAMAR! 

I love the fabulous new recreational center for everyone.  I have used it 3 days a week without fail, running, lifting weights, and one day soon I hope to have the courage to try out the 23-foot climbing wall.  It beats the old gym hands down, and I LOVE IT!!!

I love the relaxed atmosphere at Lamar.  No one freaks out or arrests you if you walk on the grass, or climb on the benches, or.....nevermind.  Let's just say, the atmosphere is really nice.  I saw a couple of people laying down on the grass under a tree right next to the sidewalk, and wanted to join them in their cloudwatching.  Some universities are a bit more stringent about where you walk, sit, etc.

I love the new coffee shop type place with wi-fi, and I really love the EZ RIDERS, a fabulous concoction of egg and cheese on toast that is grilled with so much butter I can feel it EZ Riding all the way to my hips. 

Right now, I think the favorites definitely outweigh the not so muches, and this is where I should be.  However, ask me again after I start taking tests.

Paying the Price

Sometimes I forget my daughter Makenna is only 5 years old.  She is so smart it is often like talking to one of the students in my college classes.  Today was an excellent reminder.

She came home from church this morning and wanted to eat PLEASE JUST ONE PIECE OF CANDY???  PLEASE????  I said one piece was fine, not even sure what kind of candy it was, because I was dealing with my own consequences at the time, which we will get into later.  Later, as I went into her room, I found a box of candy in her room, one of those theater size boxes of junior mints, that  I KNOW was almost full last night.  When I asked her how much she ate, she was reluctant to tell me, finally saying she ate just one piece.  I told her she better not be lying, and with further investigation, she revealed she ate "a lot of pieces."  Now how was I to deal with this obvious bout of lying and deceit.  I mean, today it's candy, tomorrow it could be my car.  ( I wouldn't put it past her, though she assures me she is too short to drive every time I tell her it's her turn at the wheel.)  She got a swat and no TV for half an hour.  She cried inconsolably over the lack of her movie.  I told her that actions have consequences and she would just have to pay the price.  At this she cried even harder saying, "But I don't have any dollars!" 

I have to say I almost lost it right there.  I wanted to laugh so much.  I had to explain the expression to her and finally she understood the price she was paying was her punishment.  But I was thinking today that maybe I was too narrow in my description.  I made it seem like all consequences are punishments, and they obviously are not.

Look at the price I am paying now for quitting school 11 years ago.Seems like not the greatest idea, right?  Right up there with stealing junior mints.  But see what I got.  I had a great career in the Air Force that I truly loved.  I met someone who was very important in my life, which led to the birth of this wonderful, beautiful child that I absolutely would never give up for anything.  I met people who will be a part of my life forever.  I now am in school at a time when I can appreciate what I am learning, at an exciting time in politics and history. Is the price too high for making that choice so many years ago?  Absolutely not! 

Of course I did have to spend several hours today transcribing notes that I have put off doing for the past two weeks.  That is one price I would rather not have had to pay today.....It would have been nice to go outside when the sun is not scorching for once.

Second Week, First Post

Gasp! Shudder! Yes I am jumping on the blogging bandwagon. And since my netbook is being UNBEARABLY SLOW, I am writing this on my iPhone so bear with me. No, this will not be a regular blog. I will write when I feel like it and don't worry I will probably become way too busy to do it often. You don't have to read it. It will probably be both grammatically and politically incorrect as well as boring. But here it goes.
My daughter and I both started school on the same day, her in kindergarten and me back in college at Lamar after 11 years off. Even though intellectually we are probably on the same level in some of my classes, her school would be much more entertaining to read about but I gotta work with what I got here.
I have noticed that the more things change the more they stay the same. I have classes in some of the same buildings, same classrooms, and in one case, with the same professor that I did back in 1997. I have seen students looking much the same as when I was here then. Skaters, athletes, loners, rockers, preps,hippies, older students, younger students, students that fit in and those that clearly do not want to. Mostly I've noticed that I really want to clip the chest hair of one of my professors because it is all I can think about in class. It literally explodes from his shirt in a waterfall of shiny silver hair and I am quite afraid I will have to leave the front row soon.
I have also noticed that I actually enjoy Political Science, the class I put off my entire first college career. I found myself having a hard time putting down the book on the life of General Custer last night to go to bed because I was actually enthralled by "the Boy General". Things I never had the patience for before I now take the time to listen to.
I guess the more things stay the same, the more they change.